Process of purifying mineral oil



` July s, 1924. `1,500,202

E. PETTY Y PROCESS OF PURIFYING MINERAL OIL Filed Aug 24. 1921 '5 invented a new and useful Improvement.

Patented July 8, 1924.

UNITED STATES PTENT OFFILE.-

EARL PETTY, OF WINFIELD, KANSAS, ASSIGNOR T0 THE DE LAVAL SEPARATOR COM- PANY, OF NEW, YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF` NEW JERSEY.

PROCESS 0F P URIFYING MINERAL OIL.

Application 1ed` August 24, 1921. Serial VNo.'495,080.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, EARL PETTY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Winfield, county of Cowley, and State of Kansas, have in Processes of Purifying Mineral Oil, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

It is known to treat an emulsion of mineral oil and water with chemicals for the purpose of weakening the bond between the oil and water in order to eEect or facilitate their separation. Such chemical treatment involves considerable expense. It is the object of my invention to materially reduce the expense of this treatment. My invention is also applicable to other processes involving the addition of a treating lagent to a contaminated liquid for the purpose of weakening or breaking the bond between the. liquid and its contaminating ingredient, as, for example, the addition of caustic soda to acidtreated mineral oil lubricating stock.

The nature of my invention will be more readilyunderstood by reference, in the description, to the accompanying drawings.

(F ig. l is a diagram of an apparatus for resolving an emulsion of oil and water.

Fig. 2 is a diagram of an apparatus for removing acid and acidiied products from an acid-treated mineral oil distillate.

It will be understood, however, that my process is Anot dependent for its execution upon any specific apparatus.-

Referring first to Fig. 1: a is a reservolr containing an emulsion of oil and water; Z a supply tank containing a treating agent .adapted to resolve or break down, or fac1l1- tate the resolution orn breaking down, of an emulsion of o-il and water; o a relatively long cylinder adapted to receive both the emulsion and the chemical solution and filled With a permeable pack d, such as excelsior; and e a centrifugal se arator adapted-to re-l ceive the treated emu Known compositions of this character, such sion or mixture fromv particles or the water coated oil particles and a more. intimate admixture of the treating agent, thereby permitting the-use of' a much smaller proportion of the treating agent than would otherwise be required.

There is considerable precipitation of the water within the body of the pack, and it would be possible, by dividing the pack into sections and by separately withdrawing the water precipitated in each section, to remove a large partof the water before centrifuga-lL separation. Such change in the process is not, however, within the scope of the present invention, inasmuch as the process would be relatively slow, the separation would not be thorough and the proportions of water and oil in the emulsion flowing from the pack would be such as to add to the difficulties of centrifugal separation. The pack should therefore have no outlet except to the centrifuge, which is capable, after the breaking down of theremulsion, of'eii'ecting a separation into oil containing almost no water and water containing a most no oil. This result has been achieved by me by the use of a separator of the type shown in the Smyder Patent No. 1,283,348, dated October 29, 1918.

Heretofore, certain emulsions of oil and water have been so ditiicult of resolution, the expense of the treating agent has been so great, and the percentage of water in the separated oil has been so high, that it has been uneconomical to resolve the emulsions.

By means-'of my process, the amount of treating agent to the gallon has been scarcely more than ten per cent. of that heretofore required, while the percentage of water in the separated oil is much below the permissible maximum percentage prescribed by vthe pipe line carriers.. By the use of my process, therefore, the expense of resolving,

any emulsion of oil and water that cannot t drawn from the bottom and the acid treated.V oil overflowing from the top into a tank n,

wherein the oil is washed with water. From tank n the oil ilows into and through a pack p of excelsior, which is also adapted to re C ceive, from a supply tank 0, a treating agent,

such as a soda ash solution, thereby forming an emulsion of oil, soap and `alkaline water. By means of the pack a more intimate mixture of the alkali with the acid treated oil is secured and at .the same time the emulsion between the oil and the alkaline and soapy solution is rendered more readily and thoroughly separable by means of treatment in the centrifugal separator s.

Lb' Having n'ow fully Vdescribed my invention,

what li claim and desire ters Patent is:

llhe process of purifying an emulsion of mineral oil and a contaminating liquid, such as water, which comprises establishing a flow to protect by Letof the emulsion, establishing another flow of a treating agent adapted to :tacilitatethe resolution of the emulsion, regulating the volume of the flow 0f the treating agent so as to continuously admix with the emulsion a substantially smaller proportion of the treating agent than would operate eiiiciently by mere admixture, forcing the mixture of emulsion and treating agent through a permeable mass of neutral'material adapted to effect a wide distribution of the emulsion and morel intimate mixture of the treat- .ing agent therewith, whereby the emulsion is substantially broken down in the course of its passage through said material and conthe entire mixture including such of the con- Y taminating liquid as has been precipitated, to a locus of separation, and there subjecting the mixture to centrifugal force to eiect a separation of the oil from the contaminating liquid.

In testimony ofr` which invention, l have hereunto set-my hand, at New York, on this 19th day of August, 1921. p

EARL PFI/TTY.

Witnesses:

'JOHN G. PAUL, R. R. WARREN. 

